Tuesday, 30 April 2013

In my 13th Age campaign I am using relationship rolls in the way I used random encounter table in my This is Thracia Game.

I have a table for each player and their relationships and results for if they roll a 5 or a 6 for that Icon.

This article from the Pelgrane website also has some great ideas that can be used to make Icon Rolls into random encounters.

Here are some examples from my both my current and previous campaigns:
(Players in my 13th Age game may want to read no further as there are
spoilers to be had, or they might want to read them and pick a favorite
do they can suggest it next time they roll that result for their Icons.)

Gribnez

Half
Orc Half Elf Barbarian prophesied to be “The next big thing in Sorcery”
(to bring balance to the... Magic was also suggested. She has no
magical talent at all and instead sometimes seems to suck the magic out
of things and store it acting like a strange magical battery.

Her
Icon relationships reflect her status as a child of prophecy, Three
Icons are interested in her but all seem a bit disappointed that she
isn’t overtly Magical.

Conflicted Elf Queen 5 - Her magic batteryness goes wrong

Conflicted Elf Queen 6 - Her magic batteryness goes right

Conflicted High Druid 5 - Dire Animal needs help but is from the faction that doesn't like her

Conflicted high Druid 6 - Dire Animal comes to help

Conflicted High Druid 6 - Druid awakens her dog

Conflicted Orc Lord 5 - Orcs try to kidnap her!

Conflicted Orc Lord 6 - Orcs spies help her

Ash

Imported
from my 13th Age of the Hungry Phoenix game. Ash is a Halfling Rogue,
cook and con man. His One Unique Thing and Icon relationships all stem
from a Con Job he pulled with the Prince of Shadows where a misplaces
Love Potion left him fleeing from a smitten wife, who was also the
Daughter of the Diabolist!

2 point Negative Diabolist

5 - Demon infested Kitchen! Maybe it is possesed

5 - Agents of Apocalyptica (his wife) find him.

5 - Demon infested item makes him take it with him or it will tell his wife where to find him.

5 - The demon that Gribnez summoned turns up to repay her favor, this should help Gribnez but will probably mess with Ash.

5
- Cultist pirates from The Circle (The Ship where Gribnez summoned a
Demon) turn up, the captain might have been deposed in a mutiny because
he let the players go and now he wants their help to get his ship back.

6 - Love note from “wife” with helpful magic item.

1 point conflicted Prince of Shadows

5
- Deneth Serassalion (The magic Item forger) causes trouble after
discovering that he was not in fact being Punked when they broke into
his warehouse.

6
- One of Ash’s old acquaintances has a package for him from the prince
of Shadows. (A Magic item that might help against Demons or scrying)

Mattias

The bastard son of the Archmage and The Diabolist, his half sister is married to Ash.

Diabolist conflicted - They really like him and want him to use demonic power, He wants nothing to do with them.

5 - Demon offers to help in a time of extreme need.

5 - Demon hunter turns up looking for him.

5 - Magic Sword with a demon in it

5 - His sister sends a message to him asking for help finding Ash

5 - Cultist pirates turn up (as per Ash’s result above)

Conflicted Diabolist 6 - Diabolist Agent disguised as an Agent of the tower gives him a demonic magic item.

6 - Archiraxyous (his Imp familiar) becomes supercharged

Conflicted
relationship with the Archmage because while he is a loyal member of
the Tower (The Archmage’s Secret Service) his parentage both shames the
archmage and makes him the target of suspicion from his superiors.

2 dice

Conflicted Archmage 5 - Superior demands a full report of any Demonic activity in the area.

Advancement table. Roll twice on this at 1st level and every time you level up.

01-15: +1 to hit (in 13th Age this also adds a dice to your damage)

16-30:
Get better at some ninja skills (2 skill points for LotFP, 8+Int Mod
for pathfinder or 3.X, Next Step up 2 points of your skill dice or add a
new skill at D4, as per Zak’s post.)

31-45: +1 to all Saves

46-60:
Get better at unarmed fighting like a monk. You are considered to be
armed even when you are not. Gain the increased damage with unarmed
strikes that a monk gets. Every time you roll this treat yourself as a
monk of one level higher.

61:
Stop Hitting Yourself: You are one of those smug pseudo-pacifist types
who beats the fuck out of people up by directing their own strength
against them. On the first round of combat, if the enemy strikes first
(or if you let the enemy strike first) with a mundane physical melee
attack you can announce you're are "fighting without fighting". You get
no attack this round, but instead do a kind of clever dodge or redirect.
The net effect is that if the enemy's attack would've hit, s/he does
however much damage s/he would've done to you to him, her or itself
instead (regardless of the enemy's armor class). Re-rolling this result
means you can keep doing it in subsequent rounds.

62:
Step on their foot and push them over: On a melee hit you can do your
usual damage plus knock a human-sized opponent prone. If you try it
twice on the same opponent they get a save or str check or something
against you. If you roll this result again on this table, you get 2 free
knockdowns before the saves kick in, then 4, etc. After that, re-roll

64:
Poisons: +2 on saves vs Poisons, you can brew 1d6 doses of your own for
some money (the same amount as a basic healing potion) and you can use
them without as much danger of poisoning yourself. Make a roll to do
with making poisons (Probably Int) your Poison deals 10+ your Check
result damage. Save vs Poison for Half.

65:
Assassination. Gain a Death Attack Like an Assassin. if you roll this
result again your target gets -1 to thier save to avoid Death.

67:
Being really mean to prone people. If you hit someone who is knocked
over you can either automatically Crit or do normal damage and something
horrible to them like not let them stand up next turn or disarm them.

68: No Trace. You get +1 to all attempts to Hide, Obscure your Tracks or be disguised. Stacks if you re roll.

70:
Once per day, when hit, vanish in a puff of smoke and turn into a log
only taking half damage.Reappear nearby at the start of your next turn.

71: Shadow Duplicates.
Once per day you can cast Mirror Image as a Wizard of your level. If
you roll this again the duplicates spread out and you can securely
choose which one is you. Roll it a third time and you can swap positions
with one of your duplicates as a move action once per fight.

72: Loads of Shuriken. 1 per fight When you attack with throwing Stars you can throw three at once.

73:”Weren’t there 4 of them?”

Automatically try to hide in shadows at the start of a fight once per day. re rolls give you +2 and an extra use per day.

74:
Shadow Walk (as the rogue power in 13th age). You make an Attack
against the highest Mental type defence or Save of your nearby
opponents. If you Hit you vanish for one round and can appear nearby at
the start of your next turn and deal double damage with your next
attack. If you miss you can still take the rest of your turn but have
spent your move action.

75: “Yoink!”

Steal
something from your target when you hit, first time is free after that
they get a save. If you roll it again they get -2 to the save.

76: Spring Attack once per fight.

77: Ninja vanish

Turn
invisible until the start of your next turn, can also be used to leave a
scene if no one is looking at you and the camera has briefly cut away
from you, (like Batman).

78: Smoke Bombs, are designed to explode into a cloud of thick smoke when they hit the ground. Ninjas can hide in smoke clouds.

79: Run up walls and do awesome par cour type
tricks. Automatically succeed at it once per day. Make a Dex type save
to be able to use it again that day. Re rolls give you 2 free uses.

80: The cool thing you want within 4 sessions:

From Zak’s Thief class: Yesssss! Finally
you've found it--that thing you wanted? The big score? The Jewel of the
Throckmarten Throne? The parasite that eats bad karma? The magic knife
that slits throats all by itself? The comely sibling of the monstrous
vicar? Whatever. It's there. 4 sessions worth of adventure away or less. Tell your GM, who then must place it.

You
must have a fair shot at it--like any other reward, but there's no
guarantee you will get it. If you don't get it by the fourth session you
can keep trying or let it go and roll again on this table. However if
you choose to roll again and then you do get the thing somehow anyway, you lose whatever gimmick you rolled. GM think up some clever reason why.

81: Master of Disguise. Again from the Thief class:

Haaaa!
It was me all along! You have learned the art of disguise. Mostly. It's
a your Int vs. their Wis roll, assuming you have access to about 40 gp
worth of stuff or the kind of materials you'd find in a civilized area.
Every time you re-roll this you get +2 to the check.

82: +1 Dex. Your Ninja Training is going well

83: All of your Hiding in Shadows and Skulking around has paid off. you can see in the dark.

From Zak:

You're
so used to walking around in the dark it's like you're a bat. You treat
night-time illumination as if it was just an overcast day and lightless
pitch nine-levels underground darkness as if it were night-time (on
account of your other senses being developed and/or some kind of creepy
Lamarckian evolution). If you re-roll this or are using some variant
rules where you are some species that can already see in the dark, you
have a Daredevil-like radar sense allowing you to find your way around
fine in even magical darkness or fog or when blinded plus your regular sight extends another 20'.

84:
Hidden Weapons. You can conceal your level in small weapons or items
about your person. If this would normally require a skill roll then add
your level to the roll.

85:
Deflect Arrows. Like a Monk, Once per round you can parry one ranged
attack targeting you. if you roll this again you can catch the
projectile and throw them back If you roll it a third time you can do it
to things you wouldn’t normally be able to like Magical attacks or
Boulders and Siege Weapon shots.

86:
Sabotage/demolitions. You can sabotage or weaken something up to the
size of a cart without leaving any trace of having done so. Dexterity vs
Perception roll for it to be detected. If they fail then the thing
breaks next time they try to use it. Rolling this agin gives you +2 and
lets you do it to bigger things, one roll makes it up to Bridge or House
sized.

87:
Uncanny dodge. You can’t be sneak attacked by anything not 4 levels
higher than you. You get a +2 bonus to checks to avoid surprise and you
can’t be caught flat footed. If you roll this again You can’t be flanked
or Sneak attacked by anything and the bonus goes up to +4. Roll it a
third time and you are never surprised by anything but your birthday
parties are often less fun.

88:
Void step Ninjutsu. Once per day you can run along the top of something
without touching it. So running on Water or Lava and jumping from
really thin trees. You need to end your turn on a solid surface.

89:
Fireworks. Loud Flashy Distracting Fireworks, in a pinch they do 1d4
Damage. They can be Rockets or Candle style and have a range of about
50’. you can also leave them on a slow fuse.

90:
Ninja Rolling. When hit roll out of the way, move to somewhere nearby
and take half damage, then make a save to see if you can do it again
later in the day (but only once per fight)

91: Escape death/play possum once ever.

The gods of luck smile upon your worthless thieving Ninja
hide. You may escape death or another equally awful fate exactly once.
You must spend at least a round playing possum to build tension
but....surprise, you jumped out of the way just in time! Re-rolling this
means you get to do it again.

92:
Mystic Dragon Strike: Once per day per level, the ninja can throw
chi-infused ninja stars with unerring accuracy that act like the spell magic missile. The spell is cast as though by a magic-user of the same level as the ninja, and has a material component of one ninja star.

93:
Falling Eagle Technique: Ninja always land on their feet, but with the
Falling Eagle Technique, the ninja no longer suffers fall damage if the
fall is equal to twenty times the ninja's level.

94:
Master Of Beasts: The ninja has developed a mystical connection to a
predatory animal. It has to be a really cool and sneaky animal like a
wolf or an eagle or a jaguar. If the animal is reduced to zero hit
points, circumstances during the battle will result in the body not
being found. The animal will show up fully healed in a number of days
equal to twice its hit points. Also the animal is really smart and
understands English, but is super loyal to the ninja and doesn't listen
to anyone else. If the ninja is a high enough level that wolves or
whatever are too weak, the GM should make the wolf extra strong because
it has been receiving ninja training.

95:
Flickering Death Technique: The ninja can move so fast that they
effectively teleport. They can only use this power in a room where a
smoke bomb has gone off, or in low light conditions. Instead of moving
during a round, they can disappear and reappear anywhere they want
within 10' + 5' per level, including vertically.

96:
Spider Clan Sense: The ninja is never surprised because of their highly
cultivated danger sense. Also when they get hit with an attack that
deals half damage on a successful saving throw, they don't suffer any
damage if they succeed on the roll.

97:
Ultimate Stealth Power: If the ninja is successfully hidden through the
use of the ninja training skill, they become invisible, as the spell of
the same name. This invisibility lasts as long as they remain in
shadows, but they become visible if they attack anyone or walk into the
light.

98:
Move Like A Ghost Technique: If a ninja is currently hidden, or in the
company of only other ninjas, they can pass through walls once per day.
This can be anything from wooden walls to thick castle walls, but not
dungeon walls (because there is just more dirt on the other side). They
can totally pass through a closed door though.

99:
Ghost Fire Strike: The ninja can focus his chi and launch it as a blast
of white energy shaped like a dragon or a pheonix. Once per day per
level, the ninja can make a standard melee attack, except that the
attack has a range of 100'.

00: Flash Bombs explode in a bright white light. Everyone who is facing the explosion must save or be blinded for 1-3 rounds.

Make
a note each time a Ninja Kills an opponent without being detected when a
ninja is about to strike from hiding he can roll 2d10 if the number on
the first dice is less than the total number of opponents killed this
way he can learn the HP, AC or saves of his Target.

If
the number read as a percentile is less than the total number of
opponents killed this way then he deals double damage with his first
attack.

To make this (or any of the random) class work in 13th age (as that is what I am running right now.)

+1 to hit on the charts also adds to damage dice

+1 to saves adds to defences

1st level of 13th age is roughly equivalent to 3rd level in most OSR Games and therefore about 6 rolls on this table.

Each
other level is about the same as 2 of these levels so I would probably
just let them roll on the table every time they get an incremental
advance.

The players were asked to travel to Fleur’s Temple to
retrieve an Idol of the dark god of the huntsman by See’s Far Ahead a
Druid in the Service of the High Druid who often takes the form of a
Giant Owl.

I
used the opening Icon relation ship rolls to figure out who wanted them
to go on the mission and made Grimness (played by K8) who had a 6 with
the High Druid to define her contact in The High Druid’s organisation.
That done they set off for the mesa.

In
the entrance room they found a trio of Angry Rangers (I used Gnoll
Rangers with changed racial traits) and a band of Human Thugs hiding in
the long left hand room. After a brief and unfortunately unsuccessful
attempt to Bluff their way past them a fight ensued.

Victorious,
the players discovered that the the small left room was a storeroom. In
which the player found a variety of Potions, Oils and Runes. (I used
the table in the 13th Age book for non cash rewards)

Up
the stairs to the right was a strange broken Elven Oracular Device that
the Followers of Fleur used to get information about their targets.
Despite being broken it answered one question for each player after
fresh blood was poured upon it. I gave them a freebie question from a 5
with the Elf Queen and had the device lie on a roll of 5 or less on a
d20. The first question they asked was how to fix it and they promptly
fed it blood from the recently slain Rangers granting the rest of the
party a question each.

The
next room contained two statues in alcoves on either wall. the left
hand Statue depicted Fleur as a Dark Elf holding an unloaded crossbow,
while the right hand showed him as a Wood Elf with an unloaded bow. Each
alcove was carved like the environment each type of elf would hunt in.

A
careful examination revealed that each statue stood on a pressure
plate, in the carvings were hidden small holes and each statue had
loose Arrows or Bolts in carved quivers. Careful use of the Mage Hand
Cantrip loaded each weapon and set of the trap firing darts out of the
alcoves. Once both weapons were loaded a third alcove was revealed in
the third wall showing a High Elven Depiction of Fleur. Another careful
use of Mage hand placed a wand from it’s carved holster into the hand of
the statue and revealed the Idol and it’s Guardian.

A Displacer Beast. I used the tables in the 13th age book and the ideas from the 4th ed version of the monster to make it.

Displacer Beast

Large 4th level Monster.

+11 Initiative

AC 20 (natural odd rolls miss Displacer Beasts) PD18 MD 14

HP 108

2x tentacle attacks +9 hit:14 damage

“Where the hell is it?” Once per turn; If you miss a displacer beast it can pop free and make a free tentacle attack.

Moving
the Idol also caused the traps to go off again catching the players
near the alcoves. Once they had the Idol and had defeated the Beast I
let them retrieve the magical ammo and Wand from the Statues. They
received a Wand of Aegis form the 13th age core book. 2 Arrows of
Slaying and a Keen Bolt.

By
the time they had finished off the beast it was beginning to get late
so I slightly rushed the rest of the dungeon. If I had more time I would
have filled the section hidden by Secret Doors in the southeast part of
the map with Giant Spiders.

As
it was I asked what the players who had unused Icon Rolls would like to
find in the rest of the dungeon. Dead bodies with plot hooks were
suggested so I made the south most room a cell with 2 bodies inside. On
the bodies they found a torc suggesting a link to the High Druid and a
Book of paintings about Ley Lines.

Then
as they headed for the exit I used one of the players outstanding
relationship rolls a 5 conflicted with The Emperor. I had a squad of
imperial Dragon knights turn up reveal that the Idol could be used to
unleash the Wild Hunt and therefore they needed to take it into
custody. K8 then asked if should step outside and made crude hooting
noises. She cashed in her 6 with the High Druid and got carried off by a
Giant Owl.

The
rest of the part looked sheepishly at the Dragon Knights until Ash
(played by Dan) piped up that he had a 5 left with the Prince of Shadows
and revealed the receipt for “One Fake Idol” Signed by the Prince of
Shadows that had fallen off the Idol when it was put into Grimness’ Bag.

We finished the session in a great place with a host of plot hooks dangling to make more adventures out of.